Andonian excels in repechage to advance to bronze match at Junior Worlds
by Taylor Miller, USA Wrestling
UFA, Russia – Team USA’s Bryce Andonian will wrestle for bronze later today after putting together a strong repechage showing at 70 kg in men’s freestyle at the 2021 Junior World Championships in Ufa, Russia. USA’s other athlete competing in repechage this morning, Donnell Washington, was eliminated from the competition.
MEDAL MATCHES SET FOR TUESDAY AT 9 AM U.S. ET
Andonian, who wrestles at Virginia Tech, picked up two wins on Tuesday morning to secure a spot in the bronze medal match, starting with a first-period fall over Josely Dibo of the Republic of Congo, thanks to a big throw from double overhooks into the eventual fall in 59 seconds.
In his second bout, Andonian had an exciting back-and-forth bout with Asset Bauyrzhanov from Kazakhstan. The American came out hot, scoring two takedowns quickly, but in a tie up near the edge, Bauyrzhanov capitalized for four points out of bounds. Andonian added two more takedowns to close out the first period, carrying an 8-4 lead at the break. In the second period, Kazakhstan picked up a takedown but Andonian picked up an eventual step out to hold on for a 9- victory.
For bronze, Andonian will face Stanicslav Novac from Moldova, who was silver at the 2021 Junior European Championships.
Competing in repechage at 79 kg, Washington was up 6-1 against Richard Schroeder of Germany at the break, but the German stormed back in the second period, rattling off six step outs for a 7-6 win to end Washington’s tournament.
Medal matches are set for Tuesday at 6 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET). Fans can watch live on FloWrestling or follow along on USA Wrestling’s twitter @USAWrestling.
2021 JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Aug. 16-22 | Ufa, Russia
U.S. men’s freestyle results
70 kg: Bryce Andonian (Blacksburg, Va./SERTC) – bronze match
LOSS Erfran Elahi (Iran), 8-7
WIN Josley Dibo (Republic of Congo), fall 0:59
WIN Asset Bauyrzhanov (Kazakhstan), 9-6
vs. Stanicslav Novac (Moldova)
79 kg: Donnell Washington (Portage, Ind./Indiana RTC) – eliminated
LOSS Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (Iran), 6-3
LOSS Richard Schroeder (Germany), 7-6